


Hearts and Other Heavy Burdens

by makbaes (gentlemindedlostgirl)



Series: NCT Supernatural Universe [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Fortune Telling, M/M, Prequel, Prophecy, Werewolves, Witchcraft, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 14:44:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15974483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gentlemindedlostgirl/pseuds/makbaes
Summary: "Our hearts are heavy burdens we shouldn't have to bear alone. So good night moon, and good night you, when you're all that I think about. All that I dream about. How'd I ever breathe without you?"Ten, a young but gifted psychic, has never been able to control what he sees. Sometimes he sees the most precious moments of a persons life. Sometimes he sees their darkest hours. He has come to know that the universe shows him what it will, and he merely needs to act on his behalf. Not much surprises him anymore.But he never expected to see the marriage and death of Johnny Seo, an American werewolf new to Seoul.





	Hearts and Other Heavy Burdens

**Author's Note:**

> The major character death warning is more for precaution--technically yes, Johnny is a major character who dies. But it's a flash forward and its not violent. 
> 
> This is a semi prequel to my winil social media au because I feel like I can’t explore Ten as a character there as much as I want to because he’s FASCINATING. You don’t need to read it for prior knowledge since this takes place first. If you want, you can read it and its DoJaeYong spinoff here: https://twitter.com/goldennmakbae/status/1005178677397737475 
> 
> There are more timeline notes at the bottom for those of you who HAVE read the aus and are curious.

Ten ran a hand through his hair as he sat in what was a makeshift office of sorts in the witch cottage, surrounded by papers, herbs, and star charts. He had spent the last two hours sifting through emails of possible new apprentices and his eyelids were growing heavy. What nobody tells you about leading a coven is that sixty percent of your time is spent answering emails and doing logistical work and only about forty percent of it was spent doing actual magic.

He wanted to make a name for himself, knew that he could if he just tried hard enough. But his coven was still so small that it was hard for him to gain any attention from the outside witch community. And he knew if he was anyone else--if he was older, louder, hadn’t been so new to this, then his name would be all over the place. Ten wasn’t humble, he knew how much power he held. But for now he had to make do with the cards he had been dealt. 

The young psychic had completely forgotten that he had agreed to meet with a new werewolf to the area to talk about his need for wolfsbane. He was doing this as a favor to Hansol, really. He didn’t even remember how the pack leader had said he  _ met  _ this American werewolf. But he was a good friend, and if he was joining Hansol’s pack, he would need wolfsbane. And Hansol’s pack had always gone to Ten. It was just the way things were. 

When he heard the knock on his door, he sighed, but didn’t look up at first. “Come in,” he said, shuffling papers to the side so that he could take notes.

Ten had never been able to control his visions. They came when they wanted to, though more often than not they came upon a first meeting. And it wasn’t every person he met that he saw a vision for. It seemed random, which frustrated him to no end. Because his life was never really just his. It was his, but it also belonged to every other person he met. 

When the door opened and he finally looked up to see who had entered his office, it felt like the wind was being punched out of his gut as his eyes went vaguely milky. For the werewolf in the doorway, what happened next only lasted a fraction of a moment. He probably didn’t even notice that anything was amiss. But Ten saw two different things happen all at once. 

_ They were in the backyard of the werewolf house, Ten could recognize that much. He saw a few familiar faces around him--Taeil, Yuta, Yukhei, Kun, Sicheng, and Taeyong. But there were also more faces around that he didn’t recognize, but ones who clearly knew him. Smiling faces giggling and excited for him. Hansol, Ten noted, was not there.  _

_ This was different. Usually Ten’s visions presented him as a ghostly outsider--a fly on the wall seeing someone’s big life events from the outside looking in. He wasn’t usually involved at all. He was never present in the situations. And very rarely were they ever pieces of his own life. Never had Ten been a spectator through his own eyes.  _

_ There were flowers all around them, more than was absolutely necessary. The air smelled sweet of honey and sugar and whatever other confectionery sweets were on the table across from him. He was dressed up in the nicest suit he’d ever seen, comfortable, sleek. He couldn’t see himself but he knew himself well enough to know the suit fit perfectly. He must have been beautiful. _

_ He was standing at a makeshift altar. He looked up from his feet to see the face of the American that had just walked through the door smiling down at him with an expression of pure familiarity and fondness. He didn’t look much older than he did when he walked through Ten’s door.  _

_ The man reached for his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Ten could practically feel the man vibrating with excitement, he was clearly trying to hold himself back from some sort of exuberant show of affection. His eyes were damp in the corners, a sign that he had recently shed a few tears. He mouthed ‘I love you’.  _

_ A voice Ten didn’t recognize announced that they were now married, and that they could share their first kiss as spouses. _

_ The American let out a relieved breath and leaned down to kiss him.  _

**_JOLT._ **

_ They were somewhere else, a room in a house Ten didn’t recognize. The room was dark, dimly lit by a lamp at the bedside. He was looking down at someone--a moment of looking made him realize it was the same American. But he was older now, somewhere in his eighties. He still had kind eyes, but they were wrinkled at the corners. His skin showed the age of a life well lived. A long one, with plenty of happiness and hopefully little heartache. He was laying down in a bed, his body trembling gently as his hands reached to take Ten’s.  _

_ He heard a voice that sounded vaguely like his own plead, “Not yet.” _

_ The American gave him a time-weathered smile, and a similar look of fondness to the one that he had just seen from his wedding. But this time it looked more like an apology. “Longer than we thought, heh?” he said, apparently a futile attempt to make Ten laugh. “We thought it’d be that fight. Twenty twenty five, d’you remember?” _

_ “Don’t be an idiot,” Ten’s voice said as he cupped the American’s face in his hand. “You’re not done yet. Not before me.” But even this future Ten knew that wasn’t true. Because future Ten had one been past Ten, sitting in his office and having a vision.  _

_ “I love you,” the American said, his eyelids fluttering shut.  _

_ Ten, in a moment of desperation, leaned down to kiss him.  _

He was back in his office, his eyes wide and watery as he looked up to the person standing in his doorway. Six feet tall, warm brown hair hanging long around his face. He had a nervous expression, shifted uncomfortably as he tried to figure out what to say. Ten tried not to betray the hurricane of emotions crashing through his chest--aching, elation, and the deepest sense of grief he had ever felt. He knew the vague trajectory of the rest of this man’s life and knew his own place within it. And the other could never know. 

“Hi, uh, Ten, right? I’m Johnny. Hansol said I was coming?” English. Thank  _ God.  _ Ten was good at Korean but being able to take a break from it was always a welcome blessing he never squandered. 

“Right,” Ten said, gathering papers and trying to hide the crack in his voice. His head was pounding. It was days like this that Ten hated his visions. This wasn’t  _ fair.  _ He didn’t know this man. They had just met. And yet Ten would have to keep living every day like he didn’t know that one day he was going to marry him, and another day he would be there when he died.

“So,” Ten said, clearing his throat as he settled back in his chair. “Did you happen to get your wolfsbane recipe from your previous witch?”

Johnny frowned and shook his head. “Ah--no, I didn’t. But my mom...I can email her. I can get it to you by tomorrow afternoon.” 

Ten nodded, sizing the man up a bit as he tried to control his emotions. He wanted to run away. Having a feeling that someday you might fall in love and get married was one thing. Knowing for certain that you were standing in the same room with your future husband was something else entirely. A part of him wanted to sprint out of the room, ignore the future, pretend he had never seen it. Flip the stars the bird and tell them that he was the determiner of his own fate and he wouldn’t fall in love with this man just because they had said he would. After all, he and Taeyong had been together for a year, had only broken up two months previous. He wasn’t ready to love again. 

Then again, he had known going into it that the two of them had been doomed too.

The stronger part of Ten wanted to tell the man. He wanted to ask him a million questions and know every intimate detail there was to know because they would be together for the rest of their days. They had a future. He wanted to hold Johnny here and take his hands and keep him from going away and doing something stupid like fall in love with somebody else. 

He couldn’t do either. The worst part about being a psychic was there was a limited number of things he could actually do with the information he was given. He could not tell Johnny any of what he had just saw. He could not act in reaction to it. Doing so would alter the future entirely, and the universe did not like to be messed with. He was going to marry Johnny Seo someday. But Johnny Seo could never know that he knew. 

“That’d be a big help,” Ten said. “Making it from scratch isn’t easy, and it takes time to know what your specifications would be. I’d rather not take that risk, especially since you’re new to the area,” he explained. “You’re American,” Ten hummed. “Why come to Seoul?”

Johnny didn’t expect to be asked about his personal life--had expected a wolfsbane consultation and that was all. But Hansol  _ had  _ told him that they were particularly close with this coven. It made sense that Ten might like to know more about him. He stepped further into the office and sat down in the chair across from Ten’s desk. He couldn’t shake the feeling of a young boy being called into the principal’s office. 

“I needed...something new,” Johnny said. “I love Chicago, it’ll always be home but. Something pulled me here. Job opportunities, maybe grad school, I haven’t decided yet.”

Ten nodded. “Well. Welcome to Seoul. I’m sure you’ll find whatever you’re looking for here.”

“Thanks,” Johnny said, a smile gracing his features and simultaneously spearing Ten in the chest. “Can I ask a personal question?” Johnny asked. 

Ten hadn’t expected such consideration. Stereotypes about rude Americans aside, werewolves had their own stereotypes of often speaking before they had the chance to fully think things through. Ten knew that much to be true of at least one member of Hansol’s pack--the young and overexcited Yukhei, who Kun had taken under his wing as a younger sibling of sorts. “Shoot,” Ten said, sitting back. 

“You’re speaking English with me,” Johnny observed. “I’m know Korean but--sometimes I still forget. Where are  _ you  _ from?”

“Thailand,” he explained. “Near Bangkok.”

“Why Seoul for you?” Johnny asked. 

So he was a curious person, this man Ten would supposedly someday marry. Interesting. He could deal with curious. Curious actually worked in his favor--it meant he could ask the other plenty of questions without letting him know his reasons for doing so. 

“Studying witchcraft is easier here than Thailand,” Ten explained. “There’s more opportunities here. It was an obvious choice if I want to properly have my own coven. And here I can work with witches from all over the world. The rules are stricter back home.”

Johnny nodded as if he was understanding. Ten wasn’t sure he actually did, but the sentiment was nice all the same. “This place is incredible,” Johnny said, looking around. “My mom never let me go to the witches who made our wolfsbane. I’ve never seen...any of this,” he said, vaguely gesturing to the magical items around him. 

Ten chuckled gently. Johnny had the excitement of a child in a toy store, and he found that endearing. “Do you want a tour?” he asked. 

Johnny lit up with a grin. “Can I?”

“Sure,” Ten said, getting up from his desk and walking towards the door. “Come with me.”

Ten walked him through the witch cottage, showing Johnny the more lived-in spaces. First the living room--littered with blankets, books, cushions, and places to rest. Johnny couldn’t help but think that the place radiated a feeling of  _ home.  _ The kitchen, their next stop, was a complete disaster. A mess of dirty dishes, cluttered herbs, a pot bubbling with something delightful smelling on the stove. Ten shook his head with a smile and muttered  _ “Kun”  _ under his breath. 

Next was the basement, which served as a workshop. This place had Johnny’s jaw dropping to the floor. It was a neatly cluttered array of herbs, old fashioned cauldrons, a telescope, more crystals than Johnny was certain any one person--or even group of people--might ever need. 

“Wow,” he gushed, looking around but far too afraid to touch anything. He didn’t know how much magic these objects held--didn’t know what consequences there might be for interacting with them. 

Johnny’s fascination with all of the mundane parts of Ten’s everyday life made his heart swell. He loved being a witch, loved every aspect of it. But he knew that most people who weren’t witches didn’t understand why he found such deep interest in all of the little objects that made up his craft. People who weren’t witches looked at his collections of tarot cards and shook their heads, asked why he needed so many and scoffed when he said they were all different. 

Johnny didn’t. Johnny looked at the objects of his craft with reverence and respect and that made Ten feel powerful. 

“You’re a psychic, right?” Johnny asked, looking at a table covered in pendulums and crystals, his fingers brushing the table’s edge but never steering too close to the actual objects on it. 

“I am,” Ten replied. 

Johnny opened his mouth to speak, thought better of it, and closed his mouth, opting to nod instead. 

Ten could tell what Johnny was going to ask. Most people did when they learned of Ten’s particular talents. Normally he would roll his eyes at them, tell them he wasn’t their personal Magic 8 Ball. But he  _ wanted  _ to tell Johnny his future--at least vague parts of it. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” Ten hummed. 

“Would you...do a reading for me? Or something?” Johnny asked, the large man looking quite small as he asked. “I just...this is all new. And I’m...worried.”

“I can’t promise reassurance,” Ten said, going behind his table and gathering together different methods of divination. “I don’t know what I’m going to see. You might not like the answer.”

“I can handle it,” Johnny said, resolute. 

Ten nodded. “Alright. What kind of reading. Tarot cards, tea leaves?”

Johnny shrugged. “Whatever you think is best. I don’t need to know details,” he explained. “I just...kind of want a general idea of how things are going to go.”

Ten nodded, walking back out from behind the table. Perhaps he was being a tad selfish here, in his moment of deciding what sort of reading he might do. He held his hands out to Johnny. “I need your non-dominant hand first. As a baseline.”

He nodded and held out his left hand. Ten took the hand in his gingerly and felt an electric jolt through his whole body. It was cliche, the way his heart nearly leapt out of his chest as he ran careful hands over calloused fingers. But perhaps the cliches existed for good reason.

The first thing Ten was drawn to--he couldn’t help himself--was the heart line. And even on the baseline, showing how Johnny was  _ born,  _ his heart line was ridiculously long, strong, deep. God damn it. Ten was  _ fucked.  _ He held Johnny’s left hand tenderly in his own, tracing fingertips carefully over the head line, the life line, the fate line. Took in the stock of who he was at his core without life interfering. And Ten learned that Johnny was a hardworking, kind, sometimes was more anxious than he let on. 

Ten let his hand down and looked back at him. “Now your right.”

Johnny complied, offering Ten his right hand. And Ten knew he was cheating, as he traced his fingers over Johnny’s palm this time. He knew he should only tell him the things that he could read in the palm and not let his vision interfere. But he was young still, and this was one person, he was allowed to make one little mistake. 

“You’ve got a long life ahead of you,” Ten said, tracing his fingers along the life line. “But be careful. Don’t rush into things.”

“Right,” Johnny said, a relieved look on his face. 

“You’re a strong leader,” Ten said as he hovered over his head line. “You’re going to get the chance to showcase that, and you’re going to be good at it.”

“Me?” Johnny asked, surprised. “I don’t know about that.”

“Rule number one,” Ten mused with a smile as he looked back up to Johnny. “I’m never wrong. You’d do well to listen to me.”

That made Johnny laugh. Ten liked watching Johnny laugh, seeing his eyes crinkle at the edges and small dimples form in his cheeks. Johnny had a sense of warmth about him, like everywhere he went might vaguely resemble home. 

Ten shook his head and went back to reading his palm. He could have looked over the fate line, but Ten had always struggled with self control and found himself wandering back to the place he was currently most interested.

“You’re going to be so loved, Johnny,” Ten said softly, tracing gently over his heart line with his pointer finger. 

Johnny looked absolutely elated. “Really? You mean it?”

“You sound surprised,” Ten observed with a hum. 

Johnny flushed, shrinking back. “I just--I’ve been waiting. I’m really excited. To love somebody. Do I meet them here? Soon?”

“I can’t tell you that,” Ten lamented though his tongue was burning  _ me! Here! I’m right here!  _ “But the person who marries you someday--they’re lucky.”

“Married?” Johnny beamed while Ten cursed himself. 

“Well--anyway,” Ten said, shaking his head. “You’re one of the lucky ones,” Ten said, recalling the vision and feeling a strong pull in his chest as he recalled the vision-Ten who had been a mere second away from feeling the press of Johnny’s lips on his own. That Ten had been so thrilled to be standing there with this man, his entire being had been alight with a positive, pure feeling. That was something Ten hadn’t felt in a long time. 

“Someone’s going to love you so much, Johnny. You’re going to end up happy.”

“Thank you,” Johnny whispered like he was finishing a prayer. 

“Any time,” Ten said, dropping Johnny’s hand, though what he meant was  _ no, thank  _ you.  _ Thank you for showing me that I get to end up happy too. Thank you for reminding me that not all prophets are Cassandras.  _

Ten brought Johnny back up to the main level of the witch cottage, waved at Kun as he made his way down to the workshop to dry some herbs he would use for spellwork later. Before Johnny left, he assured Ten that he would have the wolfsbane recipe to him as soon as possible. Ten, in return, assured him that once he had it, Johnny would only have to wait four hours at most for his potion to be ready. He loved that werewolf pack, he would always look after them. 

When Johnny said goodbye, he gave Ten’s forearm a familiar squeeze in parting, a thank you and farewell in one. 

Ten rubbed his arm where Johnny had touched it as he watched him walked away. For the first time in his life he thanked the universe.

**Author's Note:**

> The timeline in my original Winil AU says that Johnny joined Pack 127 a year before the Au takes place. But because of events that happen in the sequel, I’m retconning the timeline to say that Johnny came in two years previous. 
> 
> In case it wasn't clear, here is the current cast of characters: 
> 
> WEREWOLF PACK 127: Johnny, Taeil, Hansol, Yuta, and Yukhei.   
> TEN'S COVEN: Kun, Sicheng, and Hyuck


End file.
